Automatic stoker.



E. A. 8; J. E. JONES.

AUTOMATIC STOKER.

APPLICATION FILED APBHIL, 1913.

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Patented Aug. 11,

awuantppa ZL I. Jones E. A. 61: J. E'. JONES.

AUTOMATIC STOKER.

APPLICATION FILED 3.4, 1913.

1,107,217, Patented Aug. 11, 1914.

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27.13. Libra/ea (IE JOWGBJ UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD A. JONES, OF SCRANTON, AND JOHN E. JONES, F THROOP, PENNSYLVANIA.

AUTOMATIC STOKER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed April 4, 1913.

Patented Aug. 11, 1914. Serial No. 758,914.

'and Jenn E. Jones, citizens of the United I States, residing at Scranton and Throop,

respectively, in the county of Lackawanna and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and 'useful Improvements in iiutomatic Stokers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to means for automatically feeding fuel to the combustion chamber of a furnace, and has for its object the provision of a simple and efficient apparatus whereby'fine fuel, such as coal dust, may be automatically fed to the fire at regular intervals so as tobe consumed and avoid cxtinguishinent of the fire.

any attempts have been made to utilize very fine fuel in steam boiler furnaces, but these attempts have, in the main, been unsuccessful for the reason that the coal dust tends to pack upon the fire, and, as there are no air voids in the closely packed fuel, the fire could not be maintained.

Our invention provides a simple and effi cicnt mechanism by the use of which the fine fuel will be spread upon the fire in a Jthin sheet or spray so that it will be ignited .and consumed at once, While the small par- .ticles of coal contained Within the dust Wlll settle on the fire so as to feed the same and cause a constant flame whereby the dust Will be ignited.

Our invention has for its object the provision of simple means whereby the dust will be blown into the fire chamber of the furnace without necessitating the opening of the fire-box door and the feeding of the fuel will be automatically controlled.

The objects of the invention are attained in a mechanism of the character illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and the invention consists in certain novel features which will be hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims following the description.

In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 is an elevation of a boiler front havin our improved stoker mounted thereon; I ig. 2 is an end elevation of the apparatus; Fig. 3 is a central vertical section; Fig. 1 is a detail perspective View of the pan or spreader; Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail vertical section of a portion of the feed regulator; Fig. 6 is an enlarged plan view of the same.

The boiler front 1-may be of the usual or any preferred construct-ion and is provided with a tire door 2" and an ash-pit door 3, as shown and as will be readily understood. Upon the boiler front, above the tire door, we secure a hopper 4 which may be of any desired form and dimensions and has its lower end or bottom tapered. as shown at 5, so that the fuel passing from the hopper will be directed inwardly through the opening to the fire-box and deposited upon the pan or spreader 6. Within the hopper, above the extreme lower end thereof, is provided a feedregulating device consisting essentially of a slotted plate 7 and a plate 8 arranged below the same so that if the lower plate be vibrated, a small quantity of the fuel will escape through the regulator to the lower end of the hopper and pass therefrom onto the pan. The oscillatory member of the feed regulator is provided at its ends with lugs, pins or trunnions 9 projecting through slots in the end Walls of the pp and engaging slotted crank arms 10 rising from a shaft- 11 which is journaled in suitable bearings 11 upon the boiler front one end of said shaft being extended beyond the side of the furnace wall, as shown clearly in Fig. 1. This extended end of the shaft is equipped with a crank arm 12, and a link 13 pivoted to said crank arm connects it with a similar crank arm 14 which is rigid with a lower shaft 15.

The slotted plate 7 is supported by the front wall of the hopper and is norinally stationary, springs 33 being attached to the front edge of the plate and to screws 31 which are mounted in brackets on the front of the hopper. The screws are adjusted so that the springs will be put under suflicient tension to hold. the plate normally to the rear Wall of the hopper and the slide or oscillatory plate 8 normally lies just below the slot in the plate 7 and is of such dimensions that the fuel cannot then llow to the mouth of the hopper. When the slide moves to the rear, the fuel will escape between t-hc edge of the slide and the front wall of the slot and so pass to the fire. \Vhen the slide returns toward the front of the hopper, the flow of fuel will be cut off, and, if a lump of coal should be caught between the cdgesof the two plates, the springs will permit the upper plate to yield so that damage to the parts will be avoided. Bearing plates 36 are secured to the sides of the hopper and serve to extend the supports for the pins or stud 9 as clearly shown in Fig. 5. These plates are also provided on their inner faces with ribs 37 which prevent the fuel working into and through the slots in the sides of the hopper.

The crank arm 12 is so constructed that the link 13 may be adjusted along the crank arm and the throw of the same and the shaft 11 may be regulated. The lower shaft 15 is hollow and is mounted in bearings 17 upon the boiler front and extends across the entrance to the fire-box, as clearly shown. The pan 6 is rigidly secured to the hollow shaft 15 by clips 18 or equivalent devices, and between the ends of the said pan perforations or jet openings 19 are formed in the shaft. Thesaid hollow shaft 15 is equipped, adjacent its outer end, with a crank arm or lever 20 which has its free end pivotally connected to the lower end of an eccentric rod or pitman 21 operated from an eccentric shaft 22 which may be mounted directly upon or connected with the engine. It will thus be readily seen that as the said shaft 22 rotates a vibratory movement will be imparted to the pitman or eccentric rod 21 so that the shafts 15 and 11 will be rocked at regular intervals and, consequently, the fuel will be fed onto the pan or spreader 6 and blown from the same onto the fire. The lever or crank arm 20 is preferably provided with a longitudinal slot 23 so that the connection between the said arm and the pitman or eccentric rod 21 may be adjusted to accurately regulate the throw of the hollow shaft. The hollow shaft is eX-. tended beyond the said lever or crank arm and has its extremity rotatably mounted in a packing box 24 supported in any convenient manner at the side of the furnace and receiving the end of a blow-pipe 25 which may be connected with the steam space of the boiler or with an air compressor so that a blast of air or steam may be admitted into the hollow shaft and escape 'therefrom through the jet openings 19 to blow the fuel from the pan onto the fire. This blow-pipe 25 is equipped with a cut-off valve 26 so that the blast may be arrested when the plant shuts down.

The pan or spreader 6 will be of such di mensions as to fit easily within the opening to the fire-box and is in the form of a hollow tray having a concaved bottom and vertical end walls 27, so that, when the blast emerges from the blow-pipe or hollow shaft, the fuel cannot be blown over the ends of the pan, but will be driven over the inner edge thereof so as to be directed into the fire-box. At the inner corners of the pan, we provide spreading members 28 which are detachably secured to the pan in any convenient manner so that spreaders of any desired form or size may be attached to the pan as the needs of any particular boiler or furnace may dictate. hesc spreading members being located at the corners of the pan will receive the end portions of the charge of fuel passing from the pan and will give the same a somewhat swirling motion so that it will tend to spread over the entire surface of the fire.

In order that the feed-regulating device may not become clogged or damaged by the impact of a load of fuel placed within the hopper, we provide a cut-oil 25) which may be in the form of an imperforate plate inserted through a slot in the front wall of the hopper just above the feed regulator and adapted to extend entirely across the hopper. The outer edge of this cut-otf plate is connected by a lin 30 to a hand lever 31 pivoted to a bracket 32 on the side of the hopper and depending therefrom to a point where it may be conveniently grasped by the operator.

It is thought the operation and advantages of our improved device will be readily understood from the foregoing description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings. As the shaft 22 rotates, the shafts 11 and 15 will be rocked through the intermediate connections so that a charge of fuel will be permitted to escape from the hopper onto the pan in its normal position and the pan -will extend tlPPlOXlllltltQlY horizontally within the opening to the firebox so that the fuel escaping from the hopper will be caught and held by the pan. The rocking of the hollow shaft, however, will lower the inner edge of the pan so that the blast emerging through the jet openings of the hollow shaft will force the charge from the pan inwardly over the fire. As the charge leaves the inner edge of the pan, it will, of course, spread out and will be deposited upon the fire in a thin sheet which will be at once consumed so that a hot fire will be maintained without close attention on the part of the operator. The small pieces of coal contained within the coal dust will settle into the bed of fire and, consequently. the fire will. not be extinguished but will be maintained so that the temperature of the boiler will not be lowered. By the use of our device, the fine coal dust, which has been heretofore generally considered merely as waste, may be ciliciently utilized as fuel and an economy effected in the maintenance of the plant.

What we claim is:

1. An automatic stoker comprising a fuel feeding mechanism, a pan adapted to receive fuel from said feeding mechanism, spreader members at the inner corners of the pan and projecting beyond the inner edge thereof, and means for forcing from the pan the fuel deposited thereon.

2. An automatic stoker comprising a shallow pan having a smooth concave surface,

spreader members secured to and projecting beyond the inner corners of said pan and conforming to the curvature thereof, the

'corners of the spreader members more reregulator having a vibratory member, a rock shaft connected with said member, a pan disposed below the feed regulator, ahollow shaft carrying said pan, means for supplying a blast through said hollow shaft onto the pan, and means for simultaneously rooking the said shafts.

4. An automatic stoker comprising a feed regulator having a vibratory member, a shaft connected with said member and provided with a crank arm at one end, a second shaft below'said first-mentioned shaft having a crank arm at one end, a link connecting said crank arms, a pan carried by the second shaft, and means connected with the second shaft for rocking both said shafts.

5. An automatic stoker comprising a hopper, means below the hopper for delivering fuel to a fire, a vibratory plate within the hopper, means for actuating said vibratory plate, a slottedv plate within the hopper above said vibratory plate, and a yieldable connection betweensaid slotted plate and the hopper.

6. An automatic stoker comprising a hopper having slotted sides, means below the hopper for delivering fuel to a fire, a vibratory plate Within the hopper having trunnions at its ends projecting through the slots in the sides of the hopper, means external to the hopper acting on one of said trunnions to actuate said vibratory plate, inwardly projecting ribs at the sides of the hopper engaging over the ends of the vibra-' tory plate, and a slotted plate yieldably supported within the hopper above the vibratory plate and provided at its ends with notches fitting around the said inwardly extending ribs.

7. In an automatic stoker, a. shallow pan having spreader members pro ecting beyond its inner edge at the ends of the same, the surface of the pan being smooth and uninterrupted and the opposed edges of the spreader members being turned over toward the pan.

In testimony whereof we affix our signatnr'es in presence of two witnesses.

EDWVAR-D A. J UNES. [1 s.] JOHN E. JONES. [L.s.] Witnesses T. C. BOYD, WM. M. PA'rrY. 

